John 14:1-3 (KJV)
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

It was the summer of 2013. I was headed to my 45th High School class reunion, to a rural farming town in southeast Kansas. I was looking forward to catching up with former classmates, but I also planned to stay over one more day and attend services at the church I grew up in. I entered the church that Sunday morning. The church seemed much smaller than I remembered. There were no sounds of children laughing like it was when I was young. The average age of the congregation looked to be older than me and there were at most 30-40 people attending. The church was like the town; worn down. As I took my seat in a pew near the front of the church waiting for the service to start, I prayed that Jesus would be there and it would be a great worship time.

A couple of older ladies were sitting behind me. One of them asked me if I was new to town. I explained that I had attended my class reunion and wanted to come back to the church that morning. They asked me my name and I told them. Several rows back, a man asked if I was related to Morris and Arlene. I said that they were my parents. What happened next was so unexpected. My mother had died in 1980 and my father had moved from our home town to live the rest of his days in Arizona about a year later. That was 33 years ago. Yet most of the people came up and told me how much my parents had meant to them. Many of the women had attended bible study with my mother. Other stories were told about the kindness and help that they had been to them over the years. Jesus was there that day and it was a great worship time.

Fast forward to the summer of 2018. I was headed to my 50th reunion and I planned to attend church that Sunday as I had done 5 years before. On Friday when I arrived in town, I ran into a classmate and her husband. Cheri had attended the same church growing up and so I told her about my experience 5 years before. I could tell something was wrong when she said that I probably had not heard. It turns out a couple of years before that, the church had a 50 year celebration following the building addition that was done when I was a young teen. They opened up and shared the contents of a time capsule that had been buried in the cornerstone of the church. But it was also announced that the 3 churches of the same denomination would be consolidating into one church, a different building on the other side of town. The three churches simply didn’t have enough attendance to support three pastors. That was the last time services were held there.

The verses in John 14 above were favorites of my mother. It reminded me that this earth will not last, but that Jesus has a place already prepared for us. A mansion ready for us. And that He will come again to bring us there. Even as the physical churches of old worn out towns close down, He brings us to mansions that will never perish.

Father, thank You for that one last worship time in my hometown church. Thank You for the many blessings that you provide on this earth, but most of all the amazing blessings that we have to look forward to. I pray this in the matchless name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,